FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Contact:
Mark Miner, Beaver Area Heritage Museum – 412.370.5302 – mark@markminer.com
Or Rusty Baker, PA Museums, rusty.baker@pamuseums.org
Beaver Museum’s “Quay” Exhibit to Receive Statewide PA Museums Award
April 5, 2023 – PA Museums, Pennsylvania’s statewide museum association, is bestowing a 2023 Special Achievement Award to the Beaver Area Heritage Museum for its exhibit, “Saint or Sinner? The Complicated Legacy of Senator Matthew Stanley Quay” and its companion video documentary.
“PA Museums’ annual awards are meant to inspire the museum field and impress visitors to museums,” said Rusty Baker, executive director of PA Museums in Harrisburg. “The Beaver Area Heritage Museum is one of Pennsylvania’s star performers, and we are proud to recognize its great work along with other museums and historical organizations throughout the Commonwealth.”
Since the 1980s, PA Museums has invited nominations from its membership and chosen institutions, projects and individuals to be recognized. This year, the Beaver museum is one of eight organizations from every region of Pennsylvania to win Institutional Awards of Merit.
“We are grateful for the statewide recognition from PA Museums,” said Edwards McLaughlin, chair of the museum’s board of trustees. “It’s exciting to be recognized for our team’s work and thrilling to be counted among all of the organizations that will receive awards this year.”
More than 1,500 guests viewed the Saint/Sinner display in 2022 and overwhelmingly cast their votes that Quay was more of a sinner than saint in his life’s work. An all-new video documentary, in association with Pacer Studios, captures the highlights of Quay’s personality and practices through the perspective of his biographer, 100-year-old Dr. James A. Kehl. The 35-minute, highly entertaining video is posted on the Heritage Foundation’s new YouTube page.
Due to popular demand, the museum is carrying over the free display and will remain open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays through June 2023. All-new this year is the interactive video touch-screen presentation featuring 17 expanded clips of Dr. Kehl’s best sound bites, including some not shown in the documentary.
The other seven organizations capturing PA Museums Special Achievement Awards are “Can You Live 18th Century” by the Conococheague Institute; “Arch Street Meeting House Exterior Exhibits” by Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust, Philadelphia; “I Am a Penn Stater: Nittany Lions in World War II” by Penn State University All-Sports Museum, University Park; “Beyond Our Doorstep: Bringing Local History Into Your Home “ by the Lackawanna County Historical Society, Scranton; “Liberty: Don Troiani’s Paintings of the Revolutionary War” by The Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia; “Visible Storage Galleries” by the Chester County History Center, West Chester; and “Pennsylvania History Special Issue: Exploring Disability History in Pennsylvania” by the Pennsylvania Historical Association.
Four organizations will receive PA Museums’ prestigious S.K. Stevens Award, among them The Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia for “When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776-1807;” The Science History Institute, Philadelphia, for “Downstream;” The Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh for “American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith;” and the Stenton Museum and National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, for “Virtual History Hunters.” Janet Mishkin, of the Quiet Valley Living History Farm and Museum will be honored for her contributions to the field.
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